


Mission Report: Party, Really

by water_bby



Category: Naruto
Genre: Implied Hyuuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruto - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-01-13 18:31:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18474649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/water_bby/pseuds/water_bby
Summary: In which Iruka has suspicions about why he's been sent on a completely boring, completely not-his-job mission three weeks before his birthday.





	Mission Report: Party, Really

The sun was setting when Iruka arrived at the way station four hours from Konoha. He briefly thought about pushing on, imagining slipping through the bedroom window to wake a sleeping Kakashi just as Kakashi had so often done to him. And then he thought about having to deal with Kakashi’s ANBU guard and decided he could do with a good night’s sleep before finishing his journey home. At least he’d be back before lunch on his birthday.

_Mission Rank: B_  
_Assigned Personnel: Umino Iruka, Chuunin, Headmaster, Konoha Academy_

Iruka thought about what he could and could not actually put down on an official mission report, and then amused himself imagining what he wouldn’t write. Starting with that damned B rank. Of course it was a B rank mission, even if it was a job that could have been done by a novice genin team. Only a B rank or greater justified sending the Head of the Academy out on a mission so soon after the beginning of the school year.

He had noticed when Naruto started being especially quiet around him, followed by random questions about his preferences in party foods, or balloon colors, or cake. Hinata would give Iruka an apologetic look behind Naruto’s back, and Kakashi would, usually, find a way to leave the room once the questions started.

By the third time it happened, Iruka realized that Naruto was planning something, most likely a party, and wondered when Naruto would finally admit to it. By the time May arrived, Iruka had a really bad feeling that Kakashi was letting Naruto plan a surprise party for his birthday. And then Kakashi had called him in and handed him a clearly misranked mission scroll.

_Length of Mission (expected): 7-10 days_  
_Mission Objective: Message delivery_

“Two weeks, top, Iruka, I swear,” Kakashi had said while handing over the mission scroll. Iruka should known then that it would take longer, because he had to be home for this birthday, and missions with hard deadlines never went smoothly. But at the time, Iruka had only grumbled a little and headed home to figure out who would handle what at the Academy during his absence. Then he packed, wondering how Naruto had gotten Kakashi to agree to sending Iruka out of Konoha.

It was supposed to be a simple message delivery mission, three days out, a layover, three days back, with a few extra days in case the village leaders he had messages for were delayed. Iruka started thinking of them as Really (short for “Really, Kakashi, you’re going along with this?”) and Party (“You’re ninjas! I don’t have to be away for you to plan a party!”).

He had made decent time to Really’s village, but Party, as it turned out, was not able to get away from his village, and after a week of waiting, Iruka ended up having to visit the other village.

While there, one of Kakashi’s messenger birds caught up with him, and Iruka sent back that he had, finally, finished his mission and would be starting home in the morning.

_Added Objectives: Preliminary testing of potential students for the Academy_

He also informed Kakashi that since he had had the time, he had completed the tests of any interested children (or of any children of interested parents which was probably more accurate), while waiting in Really’s village, so he had made the time to complete the testing in Party’s village as well. Testing had fallen by the wayside during the run-up to and the aftermath of the Fourth Shinobi War, and the villages had been sending letters to the Academy asking when it would resume. In addition, Iruka wrote, since he would now be making his way home while passing within half-a-day’s travel of yet another village that had requested someone come test their children, he was going to go ahead and finish the preliminary testing there as well. 

His arrival in that village had been rather less welcoming than in the previous two. He had stopped by a group of men near a barn on the outskirts of the village to ask directions when they mobbed him, managing to get him tied up and gagged before saying something about their request for someone to come from Konoha, and then completely ignoring his attempts to actually explain that he was there in answer to their request. Iruka kept reminding himself that it would not be appropriate to treat them like he would his more difficult students.

But now, Iruka was stuck staring at the locked and bolted door that stood between him and finishing this damned mission so he could go home. The ropes that bound his hands weren’t worth worrying about, and he thought he’d be able to get the door open fairly quickly, but he didn’t know how many of the villagers were involved in his captivity, and he didn’t want to do something that would irreparably damage the relationship between this village and Konoha. Which, unfortunately, included being kept here for more than another day or so, because if he missed his own surprise birthday party, both Kakashi and Naruto would come looking for him.

Iruka had decided to wait another couple hours before freeing himself, but then he heard an argument start outside the barn. While his captors continued to argue with a woman Iruka suspected was the village leader, and not only because she reminded him of Tsunade, Iruka easily shed the ropes, allowed himself a quick stretch, and then crept to the door to listen more closely. The men were, it seemed, talking over one another in their hurry to explain nothing. They weren’t trying to justify themselves, and in fact, weren’t admitting to anything. Iruka was impressed. That spoke well for the ability of a child of this village to fit in at the Academy. The argument, now that he could hear it more clearly, seemed to be about them refusing to allow anyone else into the barn with increasingly ridiculous excuses. Nothing Iruka heard explained why these men were holding him captive. This village had, after all, sent a message to Konoha some two months previously asking if someone would come and test their children for possible attendance at the Academy. Iruka had been on the receiving end of parents wanting to prevent a testing, but these men seemed to want to ensure the testing happened, if what they had said just before the village leader arrived was a good reflection of their feelings.

When Iruka slipped through the door to join the conversation, he discovered himself at the back of a small crowd. He had not been the only one listening in, it seemed. Oh, well. The sooner he was out of here, the sooner he’d be home.

“Excuse me!” In the silence, he met the Not-Tsunade’s eyes and nodded at her in greeting. “I have heard that there are children here to be tested for the Academy. Is that correct?”

Before the leader could answer, one of the men who had tied Iruka up threw himself at the ground at Iruka’s feet. “Please, please, do not punish the children by refusing testing because of us!”

“I don’t have time for more then the preliminary testing right now, but I will make arrangements for someone to come during...”

Before he finished his sentence, the men had turned on him again, yelling something about not being fobbed off by excuses and keeping him until the testing was done. The loud “STOP” from the Not-Tsunade was quite impressive. He decided that it was time to introduce himself. These anxious fathers would probably accept the word of the Head of the Academy, and even if they didn’t, Not-Tsunade would. And Iruka clearly needed to have a long conversation with Kakashi about getting the testing program back up and running as soon as possible. He didn’t need any of his staff being tied up in barns on testing trips.

_Length of Mission (actual): 20 days_  
_Mission Status: Completed successfully_

Iruka wasn’t sure he’d ever been so happy to see the walls of Konoha. He dutifully reported in at the gate, was rather surprised by how neat everything was when he stopped by his house for a shower and a new set of clothes, and then utterly unsurprised that Naruto hugged him on his way to check on the Academy and managed both to be ecstatic about Iruka being home and to quickly excuse himself. Iruka figured Naruto needed to make sure everyone knew the party would be happening.

After ensuring that the Academy hadn’t suffered from his extended absence and dropping off the names of potential students with the teachers responsible for following up with the parents during the next school break, Iruka headed over to the Hokage Tower to write up his official mission report. He’d been thinking about it long enough, even if he had to use people’s real names. He simply nodded when the chuunin who accepted his report told him to go to the Hokage’s office to present a verbal report as well.

He and Kakashi didn’t see each other in either of their offices that often, so it still felt thrillingly illicit to spend a few minutes kissing once he had been ushered in. They did, however, actually discuss what had happened on Iruka’s mission, and started working out how to speed up the testing schedule for the other villages and towns.

Kakashi finally offered to pay for dinner at Ichiraku, citing Iruka’s long absence from Konoha. And his birthday.

“So,” Iruka asked, “how long does dinner have to last?”

“What?” Kakashi blinked at him.

“How long do we have to stay away from home so Naruto can get the party arranged?”

Kakashi rolled his eyes and muttered something about how being late would serve everyone right, and why was he the one stuck doing this job.

“Because I would be even less likely to accept excuses about not going home from anyone else?” Iruka mused. “Or because no one wants you around while they cover our house in balloons and crepe paper ribbons?” After a pause, he added, “Or both, depending on who made the decision.”

Dinner was delayed for a few minutes while Kakashi stopped laughing. 

Iruka, was, of course, appropriately surprised when he preceded Kakashi through their door later to a large number of their friends shouting “Surprise!” and jumping up from behind the furniture. Naruto hugged him, again, and shouted “Happy birthday!”

Iruka hugged him back, whispering, “Thank you.”


End file.
